<p>I swear you’re making me sound like a criminal…</p>
<p>Collegescol, do you have another option? YOU probably won’t qualify to take out any loans beside what was offered in the FA package. If you have a 0 EFC, your parents probably don’t have much money, and therefore should not “co-sign” for you because if you can’t find a job that pays enough, they will be stuck paying any loans they co-sign. They also shouldn’t take Parent Plus loans if money is a real issue. Those start being paid back within the first school year, a bit after the final disbursement. They would have to add that payment to their budget. Taking out a loan for each year of school will make the payments larger and larger each year, and they won’t finish paying until well after you are out of school. Do you really want to do that to your parents? Unless AU comes through with a lot more money for you, this school, as wonderful as it is, is out of your financial league. Sorry. You will find another great school that you can afford to attend and that still allows your parents to sleep at night without added financial stress.</p>
<p>Teachandmom is giving you really, really, really, really good advice.</p>
<p>My parents have a source to take the loan from, and I will be paying that back…But I do not appreciate people calling me dishonest and that I deprived someone of an opportunity for no particular reason. And thanks Sikorsky and teacherandmom for the advice.</p>
<p>Here’s what I wrote - and I think it was very, very clear:</p>
<p>“If the OP wanted to compare packages, s/he shouldn’t have applied ED. It is dishonest…”</p>
<p>If you DON’T want to compare packages, you are not dishonest. ED is specifically for those who have committed in writing not to do so. You and your parents also committed to the institution if AU made it affordable. According to the statement in your first post, AU made it affordable - you said you would be going whether AU gave you more money or not.</p>
<p>So you can try to wangle some more money out of them, and AU is totally within in its rights to tell you no. After all, you already told the world you are going in any case.</p>
<p>I have asked and collegescol did not respond if he/she had done the Net Price Calculator and if Au was (or wasn’t) close to the estimated cost.</p>
<p>No one is denying that the ED app allows a withdrawal if the the FA offer does not make it affordable. What is being is said is that it is prudent to enter ED with as much information as possible as it does not allow comparison of FA offers. Also for schools that do not promise to meet full calculated need or those who put loans in the FA offers may be less predictable than those that meet full need without loans.</p>
<p>College, teachandmom is dead on. There are many schools like American (NYU springs to mind), in which their primary objective is to fill the seats with warm bodies paying close to full freight. You are better off choosing another school, I think it would be a horrible idea to go deeply into debt to attend American. (Georgtown…yes, American…um…no.) I’m sorry, I do not think American is worth the money unless you are a D student with very rich parents. They are a niche school with an abundance of takers (many foreign students paying full freight) I would look at other options rather than take out any loans.</p>
<p>Just as an addendum collegescool: At our school 27 people applied to American. They accepted kids with a 14 ACT, and 800 (combined) SAT, with GPA’s as low as 2.3 . 26of 27 were admitted, only 1 was NOT accepted, and she is an emancipated minor on social services. (Her stats were midrange) How many attended? Zero. Because the FA is not as good as other schools.</p>
<p>Well, I do not understand why everyone is telling me I shouldn’t attend, when I frankly did not ask that question, and my question did not get answered, and it would be too late to answer it now. I am not replying to anymore posts because everything everyone has been saying has been irrelevant to the question I asked, and now you’re trying to tell me I shouldn’t attend…</p>
<p>Collegescol, I know this is an intense time, but your replies to the people trying to give you advice don’t sound mature enough to indicate you are ready to attend any college yet. Run up debt, risk your financial future and that of your parents - you already know it all anyway, right? Good luck with that.</p>
<p>“Just as an addendum collegescool: At our school 27 people applied to American. They accepted kids with a 14 ACT, and 800 (combined) SAT, with GPA’s as low as 2.3 . 26of 27 were admitted, only 1 was NOT accepted, and she is an emancipated minor on social services.”</p>
<p>If you believe that fish story, you might want to check the actual data from AU first:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.american.edu/provost/oira/upload/Fall2011_ADRB.pdf[/url]”>http://www.american.edu/provost/oira/upload/Fall2011_ADRB.pdf</a></p>
<p>And if the information is from Naviance, that data is only as reliable as the person inputting it. At my D2’s high school, the kids themselves inputted their admission results. At D1 HS, the guidance counselor did it, but based upon the kids self reporting!</p>
<p>Actually, the Academic Data Reference Book doesn’t refute Olipond’s claim absolutely.</p>
<p>It’s possible that AU admitted 26/27 applicants at Olipond’s high school. AU certainly did admit some applicants with HS GPA < 3.0 and SAT section scores < 500. But the Academic Data Reference Book also makes it pretty plain that such credentials are the exception, and not the rule, at American.</p>
<p>That having been said, I don’t find Olipond very credible on this question. Olipond is somebody who hasn’t posted in this forum before, and seems to be basing his or her knowledge of the institution on the college-admissions gossip in one high school. I agree that American isn’t worth a truckload of educational debt, and that the OP would be wise to reconsider his or her determination to go there, no matter what. I agree–in fact, I already said in this thread–that American often doesn’t do very well by students who are struggling to afford it. But to insinuate, as Olipond has done, that American is a haven for marginally qualified applicants who can pay retail is unfounded hyperbole.</p>
<p>“Actually, the Academic Data Reference Book doesn’t refute Olipond’s claim absolutely.”</p>
<p>No, it is true - if you flip a penny often enough, eventually one will land on its edge. (I also have a nice bridge for sale.)</p>
<p>Olipond’s D got into Wellesley via Questbridge months ago, so I can’t imagine why Olipond is visiting the AU forum for the first time just to bash the school. (And how believable is it that a Catholic high school in Rochester, NY would have 28 applicants to AU, much less 27 of them accepted?) CC posters can be odd birds at times.</p>
<p>SO - Collegescol - did you pay your deposit?</p>
<p>hey collegescol? did you your appeal work?</p>